Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback A collection of thoughts from a veteran D&D player and why I think the DOS:3 vs BG3 debate matters.

I play a regular D&D pen and paper session weekly (5 hours a session) and have played 2nd, 3rd, 3.5, and 5th edition D&D.

I have 20 points available, then I should be able to take a score to 18. The blockage here makes no sense

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY leave the name blank. I cannot tell you how many times I made a character whose name is Tav. Make it be the last thing to fill out. Have it stay empty to force us to change it prior to loading into the game.

3. Combat

If you are knocked prone, your turn is not over. You can still take actions, reactions, and bonus actions. And standing up takes ½ your movement. Let us stand up, not WASTE and entire turn.

It would be nice to create some way to do a readied action, I know this is probably wildly complicated, but it would help to ambush a group you are trying to funnel toward you.

The bonus action shove is a bad design choice – it truly trivializes a lot of things, since everyone can shove as a bonus action. It should be an attack action, thus taking a full action to perform.

5. Miscellaneous

I know alignment isn’t being a hard rule, but as it stands now, the companions are all kind of on the evil side, except maybe Wyll (who I never use – see below) and possibly Gale. They are not very likeable characters to play with. Shadowheart is annoying and bad at her job. And her stats are silly. Vampire Spawn seems cool, I GUESS, but also… It’s pretty lame because OF COURSE he’s a bisexual predator that plays as being a horny teen vampire. HEAVY EYE ROLL. For gale? Eating the rare magical items? Absolutely lame, in my opinion. Lae’zel is the only person I genuinely am interested in, but she’s also super annoying because unless you’re all about ‘OVERWHELMING POWER’ she’s just not that into you.

5. Notes:


I know that Larian did a good job with this, and overall, I am enjoying the game. But it truly does (after 80 hours) feel like a DOS:3, and not a D&D game.

[quote=Arjuna]It is Very simple: so far, there is NOTHING about this game that is "Baldur's Gate". If the title of the game was, say... "Darkstorm" (instead of "Baldur's Gate 3"), NO ONE would make ANY connection to BG1 or BG2, whatsoever. Fallout 3 had more of a Fallout 1 and 2 feel than this does to Baldur's Gate and that was a COMPLETE paradigm shift in video game style from its prequels. This game is spammy, wantonly ignores a Stunning amount of D&D "rules", throws in effects and "barrel nonsense" like an eight year old swinging at a pinata and is massively linear, limiting player choice from the very beginning of character creation to the end of the Alpha. The OP is SPOT ON and, due to space/time limitations on his post, didn't list Dozens to Hundreds More examples of, "Man... guys... what the hell...?". Getting misnamed name "Tav" is just One, Excellent, example and there are Dozens more - So Far (we haven't even seen what else is cooking for later "chapters"). And, they Can Stop It - right now, in Alpha, they have a chance to stop this focus on cleverness and "BOOM WOWIE ZOWIE!" effects (does dash Really need some MAGICAL MYSTICAL POWERFUL I'M DOING SOMETHING, MOMMY, COME SEE!!! visual "artistry"?) and make it the tactical, realistic D&D experience that both follows and enhances its Baldur's Gate predecessors in a way that the Larian engine Clearly is capable of being. Stop being clever and be GOOD instead. You can either be Michael Jordan or you can be some clever street dribble master that never gets off his neighborhood court - not both.

Seems weird that you claim to have played 5e, and are suprised that you cannot get an ability score over 15 with point buy.

I have been running a list in my head and I wanted to get it out here for some feedback and consideration. For some background, I currently have 80+ hours played in the EA and I play a regular D&D pen and paper session weekly (5 hours a session) and have played 2nd, 3rd, 3.5, and 5th edition D&D. Also, i apologize for the formatting being weird or hard to read, I tried to make this easy to read but I am very bad at the formatting on forums like this.


1.Character Creation


There is some barrier that exists here, with certain race/ class combos where the ability score CANNOT be increased, even if there are enough points available for the allocation. I have been blocked at 15, 16, and 17 for various race/ class combos, even wen I have lowered EVERY other ability score to 8. I have 20 points available, then I should be able to take a score to 18. The blockage here makes no sense, and it means I play characters that have 4 14s and they are all copies of each other. I can’t make a big dumb meat shield warrior with 8 int, wis, and cha. In Pen and Paper, having 3 8’s would be a bad idea, but I should still be able to do it.


FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY leave the name blank. I cannot tell you how many times I made a character whose name is Tav. Make it be the last thing to fill out. Have it stay empty to force us to change it prior to loading into the game.

2. World Exploration

The Verticality of the world is amazing. However, it would be useful to have a camera control that moves the view by LEVEL, instead of zooming in and out. I often cannot select a tile to move to on the second floor, because it shows the NPCs/ enemies literally just floating in the air.

The surface stuff is… bad. It’s just bad. This is the main reason I would support the claim that this is a DOS:3 and not a BG3. There is SO much gas and poison clouds and fire and blood to be electrified and everything. It’s just… too damn much.

There need to be expanded options for auto-pause. A character succeeds a perception check, but still just…. Walks right over a trap? Makes zero sense.

The lighting is inconsistent, at best. Every single opponent is ‘concealed by shadows’? Even when they are literally on fire? Even when standing next to a item with light cast upon it? The shadows are too plentiful or are being translated incorrectly.

When you jump, please display some kind of tooltip if the jump will result in the prone condition.

Pathing needs to be looked at. Idk why everyone always runs straight through acid, but… who can be sure.



3. Combat

Cantrips. These are supposed to be synonymous with a fighter swinging a sword. They do a damage die and then that’s it. They should not create flammable surfaces, or ice patches. Firebolt is 1d10. That’s all. Not 1d6 + burning + fire surface.

Jump and disengage are DIFFERENT things. Period. Also, jump is NOT a bonus action. It’s part of the character’s movement.

If you are knocked prone, your turn is not over. You can still take actions, reactions, and bonus actions. And standing up takes ½ your movement. Let us stand up, not WASTE and entire turn.

It would be nice to create some way to do a readied action, I know this is probably wildly complicated, but it would help to ambush a group you are trying to funnel toward you.

Barrels are heavy. I know this is a video game, but “barrelmancy” should not be a thing. A barrel full of juice (just google it) weighs 600 pounds. We should not be able to toss them around. D&D is rooted in SOME semblance of reality. We have carrying capacities. The barrels shouldn’t be so easy to move around/ throw. Also. Exploding barrels? Seriously. One more thing for me to say “DOS:3”

The bonus action shove is a bad design choice – it truly trivializes a lot of things, since everyone can shove as a bonus action. It should be an attack action, thus taking a full action to perform.

I am not entirely sure how to quantify it, but the enemies/ tactics/ abilities really need to be looked at. A level 3 goblin shouldn’t have knockback arrows and exploding arrows. Gnolls shouldn’t be getting 3 attacks/ turn with their bows. Encounter planning was done as a video game, not as a D&D encounter should be designed/ considered. I think someone else on the forums said all the encounters in the game would be classified as very difficult or deadly. There is no ‘easy’ or medium encounters. For a party of 4? It’s A LOT of stuff when its 30 versus 4.


4. Dialogue

Allow us to select dialogue choices outside of us having only one character answer questions. Ie: [SHADOWHEART] [WIS] dialogue so that it more dynamically includes the party, as this is a party-based game. As of right now, it makes playing a low charisma character really not enjoyable. SOLASTA does a decent job there if you’re looking for inspiration.

Spacebar should not select a dialogue. I am skipping the cut scene, not making choices while I hammer away at the spacebar.

When showing the DC, show the actual DC. Then roll the dice and apply our Bonuses. The rolls should be additive. As of right now, it feels like the DCs are all wishy-washy and make no sense.

DC guidelines from the books are:

1. Very Easy-5
2. Easy-10
3. Medium-15
4. Hard-20
5. Very Hard-25
6. Nearly impossible-30


5. Miscellaneous

I know alignment isn’t being a hard rule, but as it stands now, the companions are all kind of on the evil side, except maybe Wyll (who I never use – see below) and possibly Gale. They are not very likeable characters to play with. Shadowheart is annoying and bad at her job. And her stats are silly. Vampire Spawn seems cool, I GUESS, but also… It’s pretty lame because OF COURSE he’s a bisexual predator that plays as being a horny teen vampire. HEAVY EYE ROLL. For gale? Eating the rare magical items? Absolutely lame, in my opinion. Lae’zel is the only person I genuinely am interested in, but she’s also super annoying because unless you’re all about ‘OVERWHELMING POWER’ she’s just not that into you.

EVERY SINGLE TIME I fight the goblins at the druid gate, Wyll dies. Every time. Without fail. I cannot revivy him. I can’t heal him. He’s just… gone. And he’s a warlock. And pact of the blade isn’t available. So why in the HECK is he in melee with everyone? Makes zero sense. Does he seem neat? Sure. But also. You find his eye and try to give it to him, and nothing happens. Bug? Feature? Idk. Try to keep Wyll at a distance or many players will miss out on him – as I’ve said, I literally can’t keep him alive. He tries to solo a worg and 2 goblins on his own. He’s so brave.

5. Notes:

The multiplayer truly feels like playing a D&D session. Communication is awesome with another human to plot and set up fights. The multiplayer part of the game is FAR more enjoyable that the single player at this point. Mostly (for me at least) its one less NPC I have to put up with.

I know that Larian did a good job with this, and overall, I am enjoying the game. But it truly does (after 80 hours) feel like a DOS:3, and not a D&D game.

We can get there. If Sven and the crew really take into account what the actual D&D crowd is/ has been saying, then it’ll go well. they just need to keep in mind that this is indeed a Dungeons and Dragons game, not a Divinity game. As long as they stay true to making it a D&D experience, I am confident the end product will be wonderful.

Thank you all for your time and thank you to the dev team for all the hard work you have done and continue to do.

It would be amazing if we had the option to do local multiplayer and I could create my own party from scratch.

It would also be amazing if the party size was increased to at least 5. As of right now, we are stuck in the Cleric, Fighter, rogue, Wizard camp, and it feels poopy that way. Now, I have made a ranger than seems to fill the role of rogue, and allows for more front-line durability, but that’s kind of a lame fix. We should be able to have greater variance than the classic 4 archetypes.
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There is some barrier that exists here, with certain race/ class combos where the ability score CANNOT be increased, even if there are enough points available for the allocation. I have been blocked at 15, 16, and 17 for various race/ class combos, even wen I have lowered EVERY other ability score to 8. I have 20 points available, then I should be able to take a score to 18. The blockage here makes no sense, and it means I play characters that have 4 14s and they are all copies of each other. I can’t make a big dumb meat shield warrior with 8 int, wis, and cha. In Pen and Paper, having 3 8’s would be a bad idea, but I should still be able to do it.

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY leave the name blank. I cannot tell you how many times I made a character whose name is Tav. Make it be the last thing to fill out. Have it stay empty to force us to change it prior to loading into the game.

EVERY SINGLE TIME I fight the goblins at the druid gate, Wyll dies. Every time. Without fail. I cannot revivy him. I can’t heal him. He’s just… gone. And he’s a warlock.

There is a bit of abstraction when it comes to moving mechanics in video games, to be fair. You're not literally telekinetically hurling the barrel around with your mind. But a party of four people could probably find a way to move a barrel from point A to point B if they wanted to.

That said yah, at the very least the barrels shouldn't be able to be carried in your inventory. They should be way beyond your carry capacity.

We have to make up our minds... BG3 is just a random custom campaign with custom rules inspired by 5e in a custom world inspired by the FR...

It's absolutely not a consistent 5e game or an epic journey in a consistent world like BG were.

It's just another (cool) Larian game... and nothing more.

"You have created many topics with not constructive abuse against Baldurs Gate 3, two of them are already closed, so Minthara will answer you instead of me"

Oh... no. A random fanboy anime troll is throwing... videos at me because I agree with over ONE HALF of the TOTAL POSTS regarding this... "alpha" scam. Math is simple, fanboy: Larian bid for the rights to the "Baldur's Gate" name because Tens of Millions of individuals have played it and it is (along with Neverwinter Nights) considered to be The Finest and Most Recognized Video Game RPG (along with "Torment", which was a "Baldur's Gate 'derivative'") Ever Made - Definitive Statement of Fact. Larian bought those rights because it gave their product Instant and Vast Name Recognition thus Significantly Enhancing the Possibility of Financial Windfall. They do Not care - in the SLIGHTEST - if it is "Baldur's Gate" for the "sake of 'Baldur's Gate'", it could just as well been "Bob's Magical RPG 3" if "Bob's Magical RPG" was a noted and vastly financially successful franchise. And, because they have created moderately successful RPG's themselves (if not even Remotely as Noteworthy as "Baldur's Gate" - has anyone, Ever, said, "Divinity: Original Sin" is the Best RPG ever made."...) and have never played "Baldur's Gate" (just a simple financial transaction), they have felt perfectly justified in completely shitting on virtually EVERYTHING "Baldur's Gate" was. They bought the rights to the name "Big Mac" and gave it to their 14 year old chief chef, Bobby, and he put three patties on it, with ketchup and hot sauce and celery and a sour dough bun. Is it a game? Sure! Is it "Baldur's Gate"? Not a fucking chance. Doesn't Feel like "Baldur's Gate", doesn't Taste like "Baldur's Gate", doesn't Look like "Baldur's Gate". Is just a great big "Fuck you" to everyone that has ever played "Baldurs' Gate" and is as naked a cash grab as I've damn near Ever Seen. And, On TOP of it, there is Non-Stop gaslighting from random illiterate fanboys that seem to Really like the pedophilic homoerotic "bedtime encounters" (remembering that a SIGNIFICANT amount of individuals that will play this soft porn dime store novel are Under the age of Thirteen), the "Is it evil, is it good, will I get to have (video game) sex with it?" dream "companion" shoved into your head and being whipped, in public, by a PRIEST that worships in sadomasochism while your female companions make "sly" comments about wanting to follow up.
Yeah... your... "Minthara" is kinda gross, kid, and seems a little sticky... ew.
This game is Pure POWIE WOWIE Auto-Erotic Euro Trash. Not a Single person that bought this game wasn't looking forward to it and Everyone here wanted it to be Great, wanted it to succeed.
Every
Single
One.
And Over HALF of the Massive amount of OP comments, Kevin, are NEGATIVE - Most of the people here Hate this game and Don't want to! They're trying, as hard as possible, to like it and they simply Can't - it, like your creepy stickiness, is just too gross, too naked a cash grab, too... obvious a molestation. So, go take your weird... I don't know, anime derivative sticky videos, kid, and show it to someone else. I Don't want to catch whatever you're infected with.